Publisher's Synopsis
In a fitting finale to the Lord Alexander Memorial Lectures, Sir Peter Newsam presents a reflective and informed overview of educational policy and policy making over the last four decades of the twentieth century. He reviews the 'Alexander years' of the 1960s, especially the move to comprehensivisation, the Plowden report and its abiding enrichment of early years education, and the Maud report, which he identifies as the first - and only - attempt to 'examine the government of our towns and countryside from top to bottom'. Sir Peter notes the changes in subsequent decades that have radically altered the scope of local education authorities and evolved a dominant central department of Education which can override any resistance. Finally, he brings his own vast experience of educational leadership to a reflection on which of the ways educational policy is devised and implemented might valuably be reinstated. This memorable tribute to Sir William Alexander is highly pertinent to today's makers of educational policy.
